Publisher: Asian Economic and Social Society ISSN (P): 2304-1455, ISSN (E): 2224-4433 Volume 2, No 3, September, 2012 Assessment of Women’s Participation in Cooperative Societies and its Determinants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria Awotide, Diran Olawale (Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Yewa Campus, Ayetoro, Ogun State, Nigeria) Citation: Awotide, Diran Olawale (2012) “Assessment of Women‟s Participation in Cooperative Societies and its Determinants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria”, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 344-350. Assessment of Women’s Participation in Cooperative… 344 Author(s) Awotide, Diran Olawale (Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Yewa Campus, Ayetoro, Ogun State, Nigeria) Email: w_awotide@yahoo.com Assessment of Women’s Participation in Cooperative Societies and its Determinants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria Abstract Cooperatives have been regarded as one of the main institutional machineries for empowering the economically weak members of the society. Despite the availability of cooperative societies, it appears that a significant proportion of rural women are either unaware of the existence of such co- operative societies or are lacking in the basic socioeconomic characteristics that form the prerequisite for participation in such activities. The study therefore examined the level of participation of women in cooperative organization and its determinants in the study area. The study was conducted in Yewa North Local Government area of Ogun State, south-west rainforest zone of Nigeria in 2011 using two stage sampling techniques to select 180 respondents. Descriptive statistics and Logit regression analysis were used to analyze the data generated. The results showed that pressure from household head, insufficient fund and low membership were found to be the major problems militating against women participation in cooperatives. Logit regression analysis revealed positive and significant relationships between variables such as education, years of business experience and forms of cooperative (producers and credit and thrift) and these variables were the major determinants of participation in cooperative society. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that any policy that will further increase the level of education of women would increase their participation in cooperative society. Keywords: women, cooperative societies, participation, Logit, Ogun State, Nigeria Introduction Women form the majority in the rural areas, and are involved at all stages of agricultural enterprises, responsible for about 80% of all food items produced (Njar, 1990; Mgbada 2002; Rahman, 2004) and 70 percent of food production and 50 percent of the domestic food storage in the country (Ritche, 1977). In addition, they form an active and reserve labour force but they rarely own the means of productions (Rahman 2004) suggesting that the position of women in agricultural development cannot be over emphasized. Cooperatives have been regarded as one of the main institutional machineries for empowering the economically weak members of the society. Cooperatives are able to promote economic and social development because they are commercial organizations that follow a broader set of values than those associated purely with the profit motive. Cooperatives play an important role in job creation by directly providing self- employment to members and service provision for non-members. Enterprise development and particularly the promotion of small and medium enterprises, has been adopted as a prerequisite and a strategy for job creation and economic growth in a large number of countries (Essien, 2000). Despite the availability of cooperative mailto:w_awotide@yahoo.com Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2(3), pp. 344-350 345 societies and efforts of government at all levels, it appears that a significant proportion of rural women are either unaware of the existence of such co-operative societies or are lacking in the basic socioeconomic characteristics that form the prerequisite for participation in such activities (Idrisa et al., 2007). In some cultures, women are restricted from conducting business independently or without their husband„s consent. This poses a serious challenge to participation in cooperative activities. Even though in some cases women„s legal rights may be stipulated in a cooperative they may not necessarily be enforced or they may be superseded by customary law. It is in line with this view that Ashanti (1993) observed that lack of social, economic and legal rights explains women's low participation in cooperative decision-making and leadership positions. Besides cultural issues, women, especially in developing countries, are confronted by formidable constraints that block their active participation in cooperatives most especially, the traditional role of women in society and the prevalent misconception that women's reproductive and domestic responsibilities constitute their main role. However, Eboh (1988), recognized that despite women‟s major responsibilities in the household health and nutrition, women‟s role in agriculture cover all facts of agribusiness including food production, livestock production, fishery as well as farm management. Literature is replete on the effect of cooperative scheme on women‟s livelihood leading to poverty reduction, through asset creation associated with a series of loan financed investments, higher income that will help women to better perform their reproductive role as brokers of health, nutritional, and educational status of other household members (Cheng and Nguyen (2000); Gurgand et al., (1994); Shane, (2004); Holocomb and Xu, (1997). Cooperatives have been regarded as one of the main institutional machineries for empowering the economically weak members of the society. Despite the availability of cooperative societies and efforts of government at all levels, it appears that a significant proportion of rural women are either unaware of the existence of such co-operative societies or are lacking in the basic socioeconomic characteristics that form the prerequisite for participation in such activities. It is based on this that the study examined the level of participation of women in cooperative organization and major problems militating against the participation of women in cooperative activities in the study area. Methodology The study was conducted in Yewa North Local Government area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Ogun State is in the south-west rainforest zone of Nigeria. The state was created on the third of February, 1976 under the military government. It has human population of about 2,236,609 as at the 1991 census (CBN 2002).The average rainfall in the state ranges between 1250mm and 1800mm with a slight bimodal rainfall distribution which peak in June and October while the dry season stretches from mid November to mid march. Temperature ranges from 24 0 C to 32 0 C and average relative humidity of 80% to 90%. Ogun State covers about 16,409.26 square kilometers (Ogun State Government 1989). Yewa North Local Government Area is bounded in the west by the republic of Benin, in the north by Imeko Afon Local Government, in the south by Yewa South Local Government, in the east, by Abeokuta North Local Government Area. The inhabitants are predominantly farmers, while the communities are noted for production of arable crops like cassava, maize, cocoyam, yam, melon, tomatoes, palm oil and many others. Data source, sampling techniques and method of data analysis The study used primary data collected from women respondents in the study area. A two stage sampling techniques was employed in selecting respondents from the study. In the first stage six towns were randomly selected from the list of towns in the LGA. The second stage involved randomly selection of 30 women in each town. In all, a total of one hundred and eighty (180) were selected. However, 175 respondents were used for data analysis because five questionnaires were rejected for inadequacy in information provided. Of the 175 respondents, 120 women were members of cooperative societies while 65 were not. Descriptive statistics and Logit regression analysis were used to analyze the data Assessment of Women’s Participation in Cooperative… 346 generated. The descriptive statistic involves simple relative frequency table and mean. The Logit model was used to elicit the determinants of cooperative membership. The Logit model assumes the underlying stimulus index (Ii) is a random variable, which predicts the probability of being a member of cooperative societies. Therefore, for the ith observation (an individual respondent):      n j jijoi Xbb P P InI 11 (1) The relative effect of each explanatory variable (Xji) on the probability of being a member of cooperative societies is measured by differentiating with respect to Xji. Using the quotient rule,                     ji i I I ji i X I e e dX dP i i 2 1 (2) where, Pi = the probability of ith respondent being a member of cooperative societies or not. Xi = Vector of explanatory variables which are X1 = Age in years X2 = Marital status (married = 1, otherwise = 0) X3 = Level of education (years) X4 = household size (number) X5 = Type of cooperative (Producers‟ = 1, otherwise = 0) X6 = Type of cooperative (Credit and thrift = 1, otherwise = 0) X7 = Type of cooperative (Multipurpose = 1, otherwise = 0) X8 = Total monthly income (Naira) X9 = Experience in business (years) Results and discussion Women’s participation in cooperative activities Women are represented in various forms and in various types of cooperatives in the study area. Table 1 revealed that majority of the women cooperators (26.7%) belonged to credit and thrift cooperative society, 18.3% were in producer cooperative while the remaining 21.7% were member of multipurpose cooperative society. In the study area, no discriminatory provisions preventing women‟s participation in cooperative societies are in place. Despite this, 36.1% of the respondents were not member of any cooperative societies. Table 1: Distribution of respondents by type of cooperative societies Type Frequency Relative frequency (%) None 65 36.1 Producers‟ cooperative 33 18.3 Credit and thrift cooperative 48 26.7 Multipurpose cooperative 39 21.7 Total 180 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Table 2 revealed that 30.8% of the respondent‟s experience in cooperative activities fell between the ranges of 1-5 years, 2.5% had experience of 20 years and above, 15% had between 11-15 years while majority of the respondents (45.8%) had between 6-10 years. Table 2: Distribution of respondents by years of experience in cooperative activities Experience (years) Frequency Relative frequency (%) 1-5 37 30.8 6-10 55 45.8 Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2(3), pp. 344-350 347 11-15 18 15.0 16-20 7 5.8 Above 20 3 2.5 Total 120 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Table 3 revealed that 96.7% of the respondents attend meetings while the remaining 3.35 failed to attend meetings where issues regarding the cooperative societies are discussed. Table 2 also revealed that meetings are held at different intervals. Majority (53.3%) reported that meetings were held on weekly basis. This result shows that majority of the cooperative societies hold meetings on weekly basis. Table 3: Frequency of holding and attending meetings Holding meetings Attendance Frequency/period Frequency Relative frequency (%) Frequency Relative frequency (%) Weekly 64 53.3 51 42.5 Monthly 46 38.3 58 48.3 Quarterly 8 6.7 11 9.2 Yearly 2 1.7 0 0.0 Total 120 100.0 120 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Table 4 presents benefits enjoyed in participating in cooperative society. Majority of the women (54.2%) had easy access to loan, while 15.8% said the cooperative provided input for production purpose and 11.7% joined the society to gain high social status. Table 4: benefit enjoyed as a member of cooperative society Benefits Frequency Relative percentage (%) Accessibility to loan 65 54.2 Provision of input for production 19 15.8 Marketing of products 22 18.3 Gaining higher social status 14 11.7 Total 120 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Assessment of cooperative societies’ performance by respondents Table 5 presents the assessment of the cooperative societies by the cooperators. The Table revealed that majority of the respondents (70%) reported that the performance was satisfactory while, 25.8% rated the performance as average and 4.2% rated the performance as poor. Table 5: Rating of the performance of the cooperative societies Rating Frequency Relative frequency (%) Very satisfactory 25 20.8 Satisfactory 59 49.2 Average 20 16.7 Fair 11 9.2 Poor 5 4.2 Total 120 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Assessment of Women’s Participation in Cooperative… 348 Problems faced by women participating in cooperative societies Evidently there are serious constraints which militate against the promotion of an effective role for women in development in those societies which were bound by age-old traditions and beliefs. Resulting from these situations, women‟s contribution to agriculture and other sectors in the economy remain hampered. Table 6 revealed that majority(53.%) were of the opinion that pressure is from their husbands (household head) was the major problem they faced in participating actively in cooperative societies while 5% complained of misappropriation and embezzlement of fund and the remaining 4.2% complained of low income realized from their occupation. Table 6: Problems faced women in participating in cooperative societies Problems Frequency Relative frequency Pressure from household head 64 53.3 Insufficient fund and low membership 37 30.8 Lack of understanding 8 6.7 Misappropriation of fund 6 5.0 Low income 5 4.2 Total 120 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2011 Factors influencing women’s participation in cooperative societies The results of the Logistic model (Table 7) on the factors affecting the probability of being a member of any cooperative society or not show that the model fits. The partial derivative of the Logistic model best fit the model and gives a direct estimate of the probabilities of the factors considered. The chi-square value of 23.42 obtained was significant at five percent level (p<0.05). Table 7 revealed that form of cooperative, years of business experience, and educational level attained were statistically significant in relation to women‟s participation in cooperative societies. Years of business experience is statistically significant at 10% and positive which shows a direct relationship with participation in cooperative societies as a woman. This implies that as years spent in business increases, women increase their participation in cooperative activities. Educational level is statistically significant at 10% and positively related with women‟s participation in cooperative societies. Form of cooperative societies especially producers and credit and thrift were statistically significant and positively related with women‟s participation in cooperative societies. The result shows that the activities, benefits and roles played by the various cooperative societies give room for more interest in cooperative. Table 7: Regression results of the Logistic model for determinants of membership association Regression component Dependent variable Yi Member = 1 120 (63.9%) Non-member = 0 65 (36.1%) Total 180 Explanatory variable (Xj) Coefficient t-value Constant 0.1067 4.112 Age in years 0.0145 0.885 Marital status (married = 1, otherwise =0) -0.050 0.035 Household size (number) -0.023 -0.155 Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2(3), pp. 344-350 349 Level of education (years) 0.223*** 1.659 Type of cooperative (Producers‟ = 1, otherwise = 0) 0.7394** 2.199 Type of cooperative (Credit and thrift = 1, otherwise = 0) 0.7418* 2.386 Type of cooperative (Multipurpose = 1, otherwise = 0) 0.055 0.098 Total monthly income (Naira) -0.002 -0.821 Experience in business (years) 0.621*** 1.867 Log likelihood function 25.486 Chi=square 23.42** Source: Computer printout of binary logistic model Significant at 1 percent *, Significant at 5 percent **, Significant at 10 percent *** Concluding remarks Evidence provided in this paper has shown that women participated in cooperative societies. Women are represented in various forms and in various types of cooperatives in the study area. Majority of the women cooperators belonged to credit and thrift cooperative society while others belonged to producer cooperative and multipurpose cooperative society. In the study area, no discriminatory provisions preventing women‟s participation in cooperative societies were in place. However, their participation is limited by pressure from household head. This was the main barriers to women‟s participation in co-operative activities in the study area. Level of education, years of experience in business, forms of cooperative society (producers and credit and thrift) were the major determinants of participation in cooperative society. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that any policy that will further increase the level of education of women would increase their participation in cooperative society. References Ashanti, I. 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